www.inkthinkerblog.com — A couple of weeks ago, I was surfing around for guitar tab for this song I heard on the teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation. I was using my husband’s computer because it was a Saturday night and I didn’t want to risk getting caught up in work stuff on my weekend — and besides, his was on already and he wasn’t home anyway.
I clicked on what looked to be a promising link and was suddenly catapulted to what I swear must be the most offensive porn site in the history of the world. The computer locked up as window after window opened and warnings started flashing left and right. I tried to shut down, but everything I did was “disabled.” Then, I was told that something was making “unauthorized copies of my system files.” That did not sound good.
As far as I knew, he didn’t have virus protection software on his computer. (I was right, for the record.) So, unable to do anything else, I did a hard shut down and pulled the cord out. And then I called my husband and told him what happened. Suffice it to say, he was really mad.
That was several weeks ago. Last night we finally got the news back from his tech-savvy friend who revives dead computers for a living that, although he was miraculously able to retrieve Jesse’s files, the computer is done. Dead. Irreparably damaged. Not salvageable. He’s not sure exactly what virus it is that came in through that sneaky, posing-as-guitar-tab site, but it was a mean one. And now I need to buy a second new computer in a month (because I just got a new Mac for myself last week, but more on that once I get the hang of it) to replace his.
So, with that in mind, are you backing up your files regularly? You never know when something that seems totally innocuous could turn out to be your system’s downfall. I use Mozy and have been very pleased with the quality of service and the low cost.
What do you recommend for file backup?
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Scary tale — I had no idea that visiting one site could completely kill a computer. Wow. My husband lets me use his new desktop in an emergency, but the rule is I can’t download anything from the Internet. I think my rights will be rescinded once he reads your post.
I back up my files every couple of weeks (I do short-deadline work, so I’m never in danger of losing more than a couple of hours’ worth of work on a project) using an external hard drive. I had no backup system at all before I dropped my laptop, so I learned the hard way that it sucks to lose all of the tax info you so painstakingly entered into QuickBooks. :)
Yeah, I didn’t know that either.
Keep him away from Inkthinker! If he’s reading it, then I can’t talk about him after he answers your phone!
. I learned my lesson the hard way after my new Macbook blew up (ok, it didn’t so much as blow up but have the 3 month old hard drive completely, totally fail for no reason), so I now back up all my work once a week and my music and pictures as often as they get new additions.